The Five Times Felicity Worked Late And The One Time She Didn't
by Megget18
Summary: Felicity Smoak has no problem working overtime especially if it means spending a little extra time with boss, friend, (and sometimes crush?) Oliver Queen. There's something about working late that seems to bring them closer together, so what has enough pull to keep her away from that even once? Six one-shots focus on the friendship and feelings between our favorite hero & IT girl.
1. Adventures in Squatting

**The Five Times Felicity Worked Late and the One Time She Didn't.**

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><p><em>Author's Note: Hey guys, this is going to be a new series of Arrow one-shots that I plan on writing. As the title indicates there will be six in total. For a few of them, I'm doing my take on common tropes we find these two in (like Oliver training Felicity) and what not. I hope you enjoy them. Just FYI, there may be some time between chapters since I have other stories that need my focus too, but I hope you enjoy them!<em>

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Arrow._**

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><p><span>Adventures in Squatting<span>

Oliver pulled the heavy door closed behind him and took a relieved breath. The door effectively shut out the noises of the crowded club and allowed him to escape the night that was still in full swing. He breathed in through his nose, relishing in the silence only to realize that it wasn't as silent as he thought it should be. He moved quietly, easily sliding into superhero stealth mode as he moved to investigate the source of the noise.

Oliver reached the bottom of the stairs and absorbed every part of the room as he was trained to do. His eyes traveled back past the surveillance and exercise equipment to a dark corner of the room where they landed on the distant blonde head peaking out over an old couch that he never even realized was down there.

He approached slowly, aware that she hadn't moved once since he spotted her—aware that he could be walking into some kind of trap. His eyes flitted to all edges of the room, assessing all possible threats. He was so hyperaware of everything else that he didn't notice when the blonde realized that he was there.

"What are you doing?" Felicity asked as she looked quizzically in the same direction that he had been staring.

Oliver snapped his head towards her – it was the only indication that she had startled him. He immediately straightened up and cleared his throat, realizing that he had over-reacted.

"Me? What are _you_ doing?" He looked around the room as though expecting Diggle to pop up from the shadows. "For once, you don't need to be here. We were supposed to be taking a night off from Arrow duty."

"So you decided to practice creeping around the Foundry?" She raised her eyebrows above the rim of her glasses.

Felicity set down her tablet and leaned forward to tap the spacebar on one of the several laptops that she had spread out between the couch and the floor, effectively pausing the episode of Game of Thrones that she had been watching. It seemed Oliver had found the source of the noise.

"I heard something," Oliver explained simply in the efficient manner he was accustomed to.

She gave him a half smile. "Just me."

He let the words hang in the air, not quite sure where to go from there. His brain was fried from a long day and he hadn't been prepared to interact with anyone for the rest of the night.

Felicity couldn't stand the silence. "If you came down to work out, you won't bother me. Feel free." She looked up at him, craning her head to keep eye contact. It was a very uncomfortable position.

Oliver looked over at the salmon ladder and sighed. "Uh, no that's not why I came down."

Felicity shifted so that she was sitting straight up. She rearranged her computers, making space on the couch. "Did something come up? Do you need me to track something down?" She adjusted her glasses, ready to focus on saving the city.

"No. No, Felicity, it's nothing. I didn't know you were down here." Oliver braced his hands against the back of the couch and looked closely at the various computers scattered everywhere.

"Is that a hint for me to leave? Because I really don't want to. In fact, I will probably just ignore you."

Oliver failed to hold in a smile. "What are you doing down here anyway?"

"Catching up on some Queen Consolidated work – it builds up when I spend my night watching your ass." She cleared her throat. "Back! I meant watching your back…" She shook her head, trying to bypass her Freudian slip. "I promised a few people I would lend them my IT expertise."

"Aren't you burnt out?" he asked, voicing the very feeling that was plaguing him.

"No, it's kind of nice getting back to the grind. This stuff is easy compared to what you give me."

"And that?" he asked, pointing to the paused DVD player.

"Also catching up on Game of Thrones."

Oliver narrowed his eyes. He had no idea what she was talking about.

She made an incredulous gasping sound and twisted all the way around so that she could face him, "Oliver, enough is enough! You've been off the island for way over a year now. Catch up with pop culture already!"

"If you haven't noticed, I'm a little busy."

"Ya know life is going to get pretty lonely if you keep living on the outskirts of it."

Oliver knew that she hadn't meant to hit any hard spots, but something about it struck a cord. It's why he had found his way to the Foundry tonight. He wanted a break from the world that he didn't feel he fully fit anymore—the world he couldn't simply live in. So he went to a place outside that world to feel comfortable. He found himself on an island again, except this one was one he made.

He glanced down at Felicity. At least he wasn't alone.

Felicity grabbed his arm, trying to shake him out of his thoughts. She pulled him around the arm of the couch (obviously he let her do so) and guided him to sit beside her. "I can give you a crash course. I've read the books too so absolutely any questions you have I can answer." She told him as she rose and found one of the extra tables stored down there for Verdant. She pulled it over in front of the couch so that she had some place for the laptop to sit.

"Answer this: why are you doing this _here_? While wearing _that_?" He asked as she moved around. He had just really noticed that she was dressed from head to toe in what looked to be a really comfortable set of flannel pajamas.

She looked down at herself like she too had also just noticed what she was wearing. "Right, well the apartment above mine flooded their bathroom and caused a big soft spot in my ceiling. It takes a few days to fix so I thought I could camp out here."

Oliver just gave her a blank stare. He blinked several times trying to figure out exactly how he should respond first. He went with anger.

"Felicity, are you insane? Of all the places you have to crash, you chose the Glades. It's not safe here."

She quirked her head to look at him and stood up straight from pulling the table into position. "It's not safe in your secret underground superhero layer?"

Oliver balked. "I don't like the idea of you being here at night without me. Of you hanging around the Glades more than you have to."

"Well you don't have to worry then because you're here." She smirked and flopped down next to him.

Oliver gave a long sigh and the frown lines around his mouth decreased. "Please don't stay here."

Felicity crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't want to give in, but she felt bad that she was worrying him. "Come on. I like it here. All of my girlfriends have multiple roommates and I knew it would be nice and quiet here. Dig and Lyla are still getting…reacquainted. This place is perfect. I can work and play." Oliver raised an eyebrow at her. She leaned forward and picked up the laptop with the paused television show. "You can play with me," she said in a sing-song voice until she realized what she had said. She coughed a few times as if to clear the awkwardness from her voice.

Oliver took the computer from her and set it aside. "Why wouldn't you ask me?"

"Ask you what?"

"For a place to stay. There's always room for you at the mansion." He touched her arm softly in that sincere way that always made her listen.

"Of course. I knew you'd offer, but you already have a lot going on in your life. You don't need me all in your business."

"I don't mind you being in my business. I usually prefer it—it tends to keep me alive."

She gave him a wide grin. "I just figured it would invite more questions than we needed – with Thea and your mother. And I already get enough looks at work from my sudden rise in the company."

Oliver narrowed his eyes. "Do people say things to you?" he asked it calmly, but she could tell by his clenched fist that he was anything but.

She tapped at his fist to get him to loosen up. "Put the arrow back in the quiver, hot-head. It's nothing that I can't handle."

"You know you can come to me if you need help with any of it." He said, ducking down to make sure that he caught her eye.

She nodded. "I know and I appreciate it." She tucked her legs under her body. "Now, tell me why you came down here when there is a whole club full of people who would love to party with you upstairs."

"Mainly to escape the whole club full of people who would love to party with Oliver Queen."

Felicity rested her head against the couch cushion as she took him in. "I guess I can see how that could be annoying."

He tried to shrug it off. "It's just part of the job."

"Is that how you see your real life? As a job?"

Oliver shook his head. "That isn't my real life—it's my public life. And yea, it's my job."

That bothered Felicity. "Then what is real for you? And I mean your life away from all the work. Because as good and necessary as it is, being the Arrow is a job too."

Oliver never really considered that. "It may be a job, but it's where I feel comfortable—like myself. It's real. My family life—that's real. And ya know, down here. Dig and…and you—you guys help me in more ways than you know."

"I wish you didn't have to hide who you are," she said almost wistfully. She hadn't meant to voice that thought aloud.

"It's worth it." There was a long moment where nothing was said, just silent agreement. Then Oliver cleared his throat. "Alright, time to fill me in on your pop culture stuff—tell me about this show, Professor."

"Oh, I am on top of you—erm, it!" Felicity exclaimed as she pulled the laptop to her. She lit up as she went over every detail between the show and the book that she could remember. She was only halfway through the first season herself, but she had up to the current season on DVD. Oliver watched her talk in quiet amusement. She finally got to the exact place where she had paused the show and was ready to start it up again. She stopped herself.

"What's wrong?"

"I am suddenly remembering the number of graphic sex scenes in the show thus far," she admitted.

Oliver laughed. "I think I can handle it."

"I'm not sure I can."

He laughed again and pushed the play button for her.

Felicity settled back into the couch stiffly while waiting for the next sex scene to appear. It didn't take long. She held her breath and tried desperately not to look at Oliver even though it killed her not to see his reaction. Her heart was beating wildly and she started to sweat. She didn't know why she felt so embarrassed, but it was like she was back in high school.

When it was over, she finally breathed again. She kept her eyes glued to the screen though.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Mmmm Hmmm."

She could feel him smiling. She did not approve of his enjoyment of her discomfort. She yanked a pillow out from behind her back and smacked him with it.

"Hey!" he guffawed.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Is this any way to treat your boss?"

"I think you can handle it."

Oliver settled the pillow behind his head and turned his attention back to the show. The rest of the night was spent much the same. They watched episode after episode well into the night, stopping only to talk briefly about this and that. They lasted well after the final club goer had gone home until the credits on the sixth episode that they watched together rolled with neither one of them awake to play the next one.


	2. Training Time

**The Five Times Felicity Worked Late and the One Time She Didn't.**

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><p><em>Author's Note: Hey guys, been awhile. Here is the next part in this series. Just so you know I'm not necessarily following the current arc of the show-these are just specific scenes or tropes I've wanted to take a crack at so they may conflict with what's currently going in the actual show. I hope you enjoy! Also, for those who read Heroes &amp; Sidekicks, I'm working on the next chapter now and it will be out very soon!<em>

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Arrow._**

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><p><span>Training Time<span>

"I think I changed my mind," Felicity said as she backed slowly away from an approaching Oliver.

Oliver stopped walking and held his hands up in the universal sign that he was backing off. "I'm only doing this because you ordered me to."

She set her hands on her waist. "Asked, not ordered."

"I care to disagree," Dig chimed in from his perch on Felicity's desk.

"I didn't ask you, Dig." She scowled.

"No, you asked _him_. So stop being a wimp," Diggle said. He slid off his desk and went to retrieve his jacket. "You'll be fine, Felicity."

"Are you leaving?" she practically squeaked with panic.

"Hell yea, I am. It's late and if I'm lucky I can get home in time for a late dinner with Lyla. You two don't need me right now."

Felicity brushed past Oliver to stand face to face with Diggle. "John, I would really prefer it if you stayed," she pleaded.

"You should have thought of that before you asked him to train you instead of me," Diggle teased. He placed one hand on each of her shoulders. "Stop worrying. And try to get a few hits in." He squeezed her lightly and headed for the Foundry's stairs.

Oliver walked up behind Felicity quietly as she watched Diggle leave. "You don't actually think that I'm going to hurt you, do you?" he asked so close to her ear that she could feel his breath on her skin.

She jumped at his voice and spun around, pressing a hand to her spiked heartbeat. "Not on purpose."

"I have very precise control of my body."

She let her eyes travel up and down his torso. "So I've seen." She cleared her throat and directed her gaze back to his face.

"I would never let you get hurt," he promised.

"I know."

"Then what is going on with you?"

Felicity sighed. It had been a week since she had asked Oliver to train her personally. It was after yet another stint as a hostage and Oliver swinging in to save her once again. She appreciated the effort, but she was sick of the situation.

Clearly her training with Diggle wasn't working fast enough. Dig was a great teacher—very patient, but she knew that sometimes he let her off easy. Oliver wouldn't do that. She needed someone who could challenge her in every way—maybe even teach her how to fight dirty with his jungle warfare moves. The precise military moves from Dig weren't getting her very far.

When she first suggested the idea to Oliver weeks before, he had refused. It only took three times for her to bring it up before she threw out a line that he couldn't ignore.

"I just figured I should learn more of a street style of fighting. You never know when another one of your girlfriends is going to turn on you. Isabel is already shifty – I think you would be best suited to prepare me." She could admit to herself that the comment was unnecessarily sassy and probably undeserved. But it got Oliver's attention.

He agreed to train her then, probably more out of spite than anything else.

And at first she was really satisfied with herself for convincing him…until she realized what it would entail. It wasn't the fighting so to speak that she was freaking out about – she truly wanted to learn.

It was the fact that she and Oliver would be physically closer than she ever thought would truly happen. Both would be wearing minimal clothing with a lot of sweating and grunting going on. That was a bit overwhelming.

She never had a problem in that capacity with Diggle. Sure, he was ridiculously handsome and muscley, but she had always seen Dig as more of a big brother. It helped that during the first time that she had _really_ talked or spent anytime with the man (as someone other than Oliver's shadow or the Hood's "doctor"), it had become clear to her that he was in love with Carly. That didn't give her much of a chance to crush on Dig—even if the couple didn't last—before she started seeing him as a brother. She didn't have that problem with Oliver. By the time she knew about all of Oliver's various women (Laurel especially), she was well on her way to becoming one herself. The first time they met she was thrown off by how attractive he was. The boldface lies he had fed to her helped stop her babbling and kept her suspicious. With every meeting, his lies got worse. It would have been endearing if it weren't so incredibly annoying. Still he was always nice to look at.

Now was no exception to that. All he had on was a pair of sweatpants that hung low off his hips. She could see every scar on his chest and the tattoo that covered his heart. She had yet to learn what it meant. He was focused completely on her, blues eyes trained on her like she was a target trapped in his sights. And they were totally alone.

"I didn't think this through."

Oliver crossed his arms. "Think what through?"

For once she shut her mouth, desperate to keep in the thoughts about his naked torso that threatened to spill out of her lips. "Nothing. Fine, let's do this."

Felicity took a few quick breaths and shed the sweatshirt that she was wearing over her workout clothes. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She had already exchanged her glasses for contacts—she shivered again remembering the feeling of touching her eyeball. She hated it.

When she looked up at Oliver again, she found him smirking at her.

"What?"

"It's kind of cute seeing you so out of your element."

"I'm taking that as an insult." She huffed.

"Take it any way you want." He laughed and ushered her forward. She complied.

He spent the first fifteen minutes or so just teaching her slow warm-up stretches—ones that wouldn't be helpful in the field, but that she could do everyday to keep her body ready. It involved minimal touching, which helped ease her nerves.

Then he switched gears.

"To be honest, I've never really trained anyone from the ground up before so I'm not sure what the best approach is," he admitted.

She interrupted his train of thought. "Well, how did your training start?"

Oliver paused. Actually, he froze—like his entire body had just powered down. An image of Shado flashed through his head and he had to push it back to that endless cavern of his mind that contained all of his memories from the island. "Why?" he snapped.

Her teeth clacked together in surprise at his tone, but this time she couldn't keep her mouth closed. She realized that she had never asked him directly about the island before. She had actually been pretty proud of herself for holding back for so long. It was an accident tonight. It had just slipped out and she hadn't even realized it until he reacted so weirdly. "Because that's one of the reasons that I asked you. Dig is a military man – he's used to training athletic and disciplined people. From what I've heard of your glory days, that wasn't exactly you and it's definitely not me." She shrugged. "I figure if you can teach me a microcosm of the training you had, I'll be able to protect myself just fine."

Felicity saw the way he physically loosed the tension he had bunched in his shoulders. She thought it was funny that such a throwaway question to her held such meaning to him. She hadn't meant to delve into his island life. She just wanted to know the logistics of how he had trained physically.

Oliver cleared his throat. "I slapped water."

Felicity raised her eyebrows, which scrunched her forehead in what Oliver thought was an admittedly cute expression of confusion. "Excuse me? Is that a euphemism for something?"

Oliver laughed, remembering how ridiculous he had thought the exercise was when Shado first made him do it. "No. I sat on a grimy floor for weeks and slapped water."

"Well, I was right. That sounds easier than what Diggle put me through. I'm not really sure I see the endgame though."

"I did it long enough every day until I was strong enough to pull back on my bow. And I didn't even realize what she was doing until it was done."

Felicity had the biggest urge to ask about the 'she' that he was referring to, but she knew that it was the wrong move. She knew that there had been other people with him on the island. She also knew that he hated talking about them. He would have to be the first one to broach the subject.

"I guess that's good with the stretches you showed me—they'll make me stronger if I do them every day. But water-wise, I wasn't really planning on wielding a bow any time soon."

"Yes, if I recall correctly you think archery looks utterly ridiculous." Oliver remembered as he took a step closer to her.

She bit her lip. She remembered saying that before she knew about his nighttime hobbies—it seemed like a million years ago. "To be fair, I said that before I knew you were into that stuff."

"And you still think that?" he asked as he circled around her, trying to figure out how to approach the next part of the training.

"No, you make it look good," Felicity blurted out as she tried to keep her eyes on him when he slipped behind her. "What I meant was…" She cleared her throat, but it didn't help her think, "something else." She cringed at her lack of forethought.

"We should get back to training."

"Yes, thank you."

"Alright, I know Dig had already gone over some basic forms and moves with you. We're going to go with a more self-defense based approach."

Felicity nodded and felt him hovering behind her.

"So I'm going to grab you and I want you to instinctively react. Once I know, I can correct you and show you some ways to disengage."

Felicity barely had time to process what he said before his arms were wound tightly around her. She immediately tensed up. This was exactly what she had been worried about. His arms felt particularly snug and warm.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"You're supposed to react instinctively."

"You're hugging me—this _is_ my natural reaction."

She could feel his ab muscles contract as he sighed. "I'm not hugging you, I'm attacking you."

"I've seen you attack people. This is not how you do it."

"Would you like me to actually attack you?"

Felicity paused for a long moment. "No."

"Then try to throw me off of you."

Felicity gritted her teeth as she heaved her weight to try and flip Oliver off of her. He barely moved. Her next attempt was to simply pry his hands off of her, but it was like they were soldered on. Her breathing was becoming labored and it was only partially due to physical exertion. She tried to elbow him in the stomach and actually got a grunt out of him before he hugged her tighter so that her arms couldn't move. Her only other option was to try and stomp on his feet. She slammed her foot down, but he dodged her. She tried again, but failed. And every time she did it, she felt more and more uncomfortable. She was basically wiggling against parts of Oliver that she couldn't think about at the moment without physically combusting.

"I got nothing," she finally said.

Oliver loosed his grip slightly. "This is a little sad."

Felicity slammed her elbows back in frustration. She surprised him so much that he almost dropped his hands from her. It was enough for her to slip under his arms and then duck away. "Better?" she asked, her voice soaked with snark.

He glared at her. "I thought you gave up."

"Strategy." She shrugged.

"You're gonna need more than that," he said as he beckoned her toward him with one finger.

He spent most of the next hour teaching her precise movements to break a hold from behind—the most likely position a hostage-taker would yield. He would go over them slowly and then speed up more and more until she had the move down. She was so focused on what he was teaching her that she almost forgot about his constant contact. Almost.

"Alright, this one's a little more complicated," he told her. "You're going to tuck your chin in between the arm I have across your chest. Then you are going to try to step on my insole as hard as you can while at the same time yanking my arm down from your chest. Do it right and you will be able to duck left under my arm and spin to face me. Then as quickly as possible pull my arm forward—the one that was on your chest that you should still have a good grip on." Felicity nodded as she memorized each step individually and tried to map out the picture in her head as a whole. "The goal is to get me off balance. Get me off balance and you have a chance of getting away."

Felicity nodded and flexed her muscles as she got ready to try this out. It was safe to say that she was not exactly confident that she could pull this off.

Oliver wound his arms around her, his grip as strong as ever. She paused, taking a few quick breaths to psych herself up.

At just about the point that she had gotten a little too far in her own head, she felt him shift. He leaned down so that his mouth was just outside her ear. "You got this," he whispered.

She sighed deeply and before she had another second to over-think it, she drove her heel into Oliver's insole and yanked his arm from her chest. It had gone so well up until that point, but it fell apart all too quickly.

Looking back she thought that she may have spun too early—she thought that maybe she was supposed to have stepped forward first and then spun to face the attacker. Whoops. Instead she just spun on him, causing limbs to tangle with limbs and her forehead to smack into his chest. She spasmed a bit as she tried to pull free and clear from his body, but she misjudged her own aptitude for balance. She flung herself backward, but one of her feet was still trapped among his legs and no extent of flailing arms could keep her from falling backwards.

Oliver saw everything that was happening and his lightening reflexes took over. It would always be in his instincts to 'save' Felicity. No matter what. He reached for her arms to pull her to her feet, but her own efforts to save herself thwarted him. She knocked his arms away and distracted him enough to kick his legs out from under him. He fell forward—it was either that or step on her to catch his balance—and followed her to the ground. He fell on top of her, throwing his arms out just in time to catch himself from thudding against her. He hovered over her as they both caught their breaths.

Felicity stared up at him as he searched her face for any signs that she was okay. She smiled at him sheepishly. "I'd say that I definitely got you off balance."

"This isn't exactly a better position to be in," Oliver countered.

"Looks good from down here," she said under her breath.

Unfortunately Oliver was only inches from her face and clearly heard every word. He didn't ignore her awkward comment this time as he usually did. Instead he laughed and she could have sworn that he let his eyes momentarily fixate on her lips. It seemed as if laying on top of her was giving him some ideas. She didn't exactly mind it.

His eyes traveled back up to her own—it was weird to adjust to seeing her without the glasses. He wasn't sure which look he liked better—hell, she looked good either way. "Are you okay?"

Her gaze flitted down to his bare chest. "I've been worse."

When their eyes caught again, there was a moment when Oliver wasn't quite sure what was going to happen. He had lost his hold over the coil of feelings that he kept wound so tightly. It was terrifying and thrilling and completely unexpected. He wanted to do it in that moment—to take the plunge and kiss her. If only to know what it would be like.

He was pretty sure she'd be game.

But he didn't. He couldn't risk it. There was too much to lose—their friendship, their partnership, their team. He couldn't risk her heart…or his.

Would one little kiss be worth it?

Oliver swiftly pushed away from Felicity and to his feet. He held out his hand to pull her up after him and she complied.

"I think that's enough for tonight. We can work on that more another time."

Felicity nodded and went to get a drink. "Fair enough," she answered. She knew something had happened with Oliver—saw a strange moment in his expression when he was hovering over her. He had looked at her in a way that she had never seen him look at her before. It gave her chills. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She already had enough trouble concentrating around him. Now all she could do was remember that look.

"We can do another session tomorrow afternoon," Oliver informed her. He tossed her a towel.

She nodded. "Maybe we can start with some weapons tomorrow. I think that would be safer."

"Weapons are safer?" Oliver directed the question to her back as she retreated to get changed into normal clothes. He was genuinely confused.

"Yes, less potential for touching," she answered in a voice quiet enough that she didn't think he would hear her.

But as always he did and he had to agree that touching Felicity was definitely more of a danger to him than any weapon he could find in the Foundry.


	3. Red Eye

**The Five Times Felicity Worked Late and the One Time She Didn't.**

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><p><em><span>Author's Note<span>: Hey guys, hope all is well. There is a lot going down with the current season wrapping up (in the States at least) so just reminding you that this is not necessarily following the events of the current season. This chapter would be taking place around the mid-point of season 2 (a.k.a. it's much lighter tone and won't be dealing with any heavy, end of the season vibes the show has been building recently). I hope you enjoy it, review if you have time! Love to all my readers!  
><em>

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Arrow._**

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><p><span>Red Eye<span>

"How much longer?" Felicity asked as she closed her laptop. She had been staring at the screen for hours and she was starting to go bug eyed. She needed a break from it.

Oliver came back from the bar with a drink and settled down across from her. "About five hours."

Felicity dropped her head back against her seat and sighed. "For future reference, non-stop fifteen hour flights to Hong Kong are not for me, especially just for a business trip."

"At least you're on a private jet instead of squished in the back of coach somewhere for fifteen hours."

"Touché," she responded, feeling guilty for taking her situation for granted. She looked around the main room of the plane, trying to find something to keep her entertained. She wanted to find something that would distract her momentarily to keep her mind off the work she should probably get back to.

Diggle walked in from the back section of the plane. "Any chance you're coming to tell us that we're five hours ahead of schedule?" she asked him.

"Not even the slightest."

Felicity sighed. "Alright then, what are the chances that you brought a pack of cards?"

Dig feigned checking his pockets only to come up empty. He shook his head with a teasing smile decorating his lips. "You don't need a deck of cards. Just try to get some shut eye before we land."

"Oh, no, no, no. See, I get kind of anxious on planes. If I sleep I get crazy nightmares – I'd like to avoid that if at all possible."

Dig let out a long breath and plopped down in the seat next to her. He gave Oliver a wary glance and turned to Felicity. "Then what do you want to do?"

"We should play a game," she suggested, flicking her gaze between Oliver and Dig. Oliver just stared her down skeptically.

"Why don't you just play a game on your tablet?" Oliver asked. He looked around for it, knowing it was close. It never strayed far from her hand.

"No, I've been staring at a screen for like ten hours straight doing work for you. I'm officially cross-eyed." She demonstrated her statement literally. "Come on! What is wrong with you two? Can't a girl crave a little human interaction?"

"Human interaction is overrated. Trust me, I would know." Oliver shot down her question.

She glared at him. "I know how to make it fun for you then. Let's make it a drinking game." She rose and brought over the entire decanter of scotch from the bar area. She reached over and tugged Oliver's glass to the center of the table and filled it practically to the top. Oliver raised his eyebrows.

Diggle leaned toward her as she finished her pour. "You realize that particular scotch is probably somewhere between five and ten thousand dollars," he informed her.

She almost had a panic attack on the spot. "Seriously?" For a second, she considered trying to filter the glass back into the decanter. Before she got the chance, Oliver placed his hand over hers.

"Felicity, it's fine." He nodded at her for reassurance, but she didn't feel very reassured.

"What's your game?" Dig chimed in, nicely trying to distract her from the scotch.

"Um, I guess since there's no cards or anything we could play 'never have I ever'."

Oliver smirked while Dig just groaned.

"What? What is that reaction? It will be fun!"

"Maybe if we were in middle school," he shot back.

Oliver was oddly quiet.

"I think this is perfect. It will give us a chance to get to know each other better," she said happily.

"Felicity, we spend the majority of our days and our nights together—I think we know each other pretty damn well." Dig replied.

She narrowed her eyes. She didn't appreciate the condescending tone. "Oh, really? Because you have never kept anything from us before," she said sarcastically. She held up five fingers to make it clear the game was on. "How about I start? Never have I ever had a secret ex-wife." She wiggled her fingers to make it clear that all five were still up. She looked over at Oliver expectantly. He laughed and held up his left hand, all five fingers up. They both turned to Diggle.

He held up four fingers. Felicity nudged the scotch glass toward him so that he would take a swing.

As he picked up the glass, Oliver spoke up. "Ooo, I have a good one." He cleared his throat as the other two turned their attention to him. "Never have I ever…" he paused for effect and smiled as he remembered. "Been walked in on while singing Beyoncé in the Foundry and then played it off like I had just silently been working out."

Felicity let out an unexpected guffaw of joy—her mouth dropped into a giddy smile.

Dig sighed and closed his eyes to take a moment of embarrassment. He put down a finger and took his two distinct swigs.

Before he could swallow the second swig, Felicity thought of another one. "Oh! Never have I ever punched my boss." She motioned to Oliver, knowing full well Dig had punched him before.

Dig shook his head and put down the alcohol. "How did my turn get skipped?" he protested.

"You mock the game—you forfeit your turn. Them's the breaks," she said with a sympathetic shrug, like that was actually a rule written down in some official book.

Three fingers down. He took another drink.

"To be fair, he _made_ me punch him," Dig tried to defend himself.

"You didn't have to do it so hard." Oliver complained.

"After this game, I'm wishing I'd done it harder."

Oliver laughed. "Well in that case, never have I ever had a…specific kind of dream about a certain Golden Girl."

"I told you that in confidence!" Diggle shouted.

Felicity blinked hard and slapped a hand over her mouth.

Oliver shook his head. "You never said it was a secret. You posed a question about strange sex dreams one day and then asked if you should be concerned."

"It's an implied secret!"

"This is the best thing that's ever happened!" Felicity chimed in. "Which one?"

Oliver didn't answer. He figured he could keep that part of the secret.

At this point, Dig didn't care. "Rose," he answered and took another long pull of scotch.

She contained her amusement into a simple smile. "Hey, Betty White is very feisty."

Oliver tucked his lower lip behind the upper one to hide his smile.

"You can go now, Dig." Felicity offered, feeling bad that he was so embarrassed.

He immediately turned toward Oliver and slid the scotch glass across the table toward him. "Never have I ever dated someone and their sibling at the same time."

Oliver's smile faded.

He slowly reached for the glass.

He stopped when Felicity spoke up. "I'm not sure what he did with Sara really counted as dating at the time," she said thoughtfully. Dig shot her a look of annoyance. She could only mouth the word 'sorry'.

"Let me clarify, since what you and Sara were doing back on your boat is not exactly the same as what you have been doing recently," he said the second part casually like it was common knowledge. Oliver shifted uncomfortably and Felicity avoided looking at him. She knew there was something going on between him and Sara—that they were together in some sense of the word, but she didn't like to think about it too much. "What I meant was: never have I ever dated some one and then cheated on them with their sibling." Dig rephrased.

Oliver let out a long breath through his nostrils, contemplating the glass. He took a big gulp. "Thanks for clarifying." He flicked his eyes to Felicity, but she still wouldn't look at him.

"Never have I ever manscaped." Felicity blurted out. She felt desperate to get past the last question and it was the first thing that had popped into her head. It was now also all that she could think about.

It helped to lighten the mood.

Dig actually laughed. He rubbed the back of his neck as his chest shook with laughter.

Oliver barely reacted. He just drank.

Dig lowered his final finger and emptied the scotch glass. He got up from his place next to Felicity.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To take a nap."

"Come on, stay! We won't count the first couple of turns."

He shook his head. "It's safer if I go," he admitted.

He patted Oliver on the back genially as he headed to the front section of the cabin.

"Truce?" Ollie called after him, making sure that he had interpreted the friendly gesture correctly.

"Uh huh." Dig agreed as he left their sight.

Felicity stared up at Oliver expectantly. "I forgot how dangerous this game can be," she told him.

"He's survived worse," Oliver replied. "I always forget—does that mean he just won or lost?"

"He lost! It's last man standing."

Oliver looked puzzled. "That's interesting. I remember the girls I played with being proud when they got out first."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "I'll bet! I'm sure they were more than eager to let you know all that were willing to do." she said, impressed with her ability to reign in the thoughts that were actually going through her head.

"I guess we should continue then," Oliver suggested.

She nodded, but hesitated in pouring more scotch.

Oliver did it for her. When he finished he held up three fingers for her.

Felicity held up five.

He smiled. "We've got to get some of those down." He rubbed at the scruff on his chin, considering what he could get her on. "Never have I ever done a walk of shame." He finally said and found himself really wanting to know her answer. He was intensely curious about what Felicity might have been like in college.

She scoffed. "I'm calling bullshit on that."

He shook his head, "Nope, I always had chauffeurs to take me home."

She gave a short laugh. "Of course you did—I shudder to think what you and I would have thought of each other if we'd met back then," she wondered aloud as she too thought back to her college days.

Oliver silently agreed. He had thought about it before and didn't like the answer. He was glad she had never met him before the island—he had a feeling she wouldn't have liked him all that much.

Felicity finally considered his 'I never'. She inched one of her fingers down before she paused. "I've never actually done a 'walk of shame'. A 'stride of pride' is another story."

Oliver had to take a second to process her response. "It's the same concept!" he argued.

She sighed. "Fine, but I'm giving you this one."

He acknowledged that with a nod. She took a swig of the scotch. She sputtered a little as it burned its way down her throat. "Who would pay thousands of dollars for that?" she wheezed as she spoke the question.

Oliver just shrugged.

She cleared her throat and thought barely a second before starting the next round. "Never have I ever eaten snake meat."

"What?" He had no idea what made her think of that.

She shrugged. "I've always wondered what kind of weird stuff you had to eat on the island."

"Not snake."

She looked relieved for him.

"There were chickens and fish. We did roast a lizard once."

"And?"

He thought back and gave a half shrug. "I've had worse."

Felicity cringed at the thought, but she was happy to know. "Thanks for sharing—it was driving me nuts not to ask before, but I know you don't like to talk about the island."

"You and Dig are good about not asking—probably to a fault. I don't mind throwing you a bone on that one."

They held eye contact for a long moment. She never got tired of looking into his eyes and it wasn't exactly a chore for him to look back. "Your turn," she told him softly.

"Never have I ever cried during Game of Thrones."

Felicity begrudgingly took another sip of scotch.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed in triumph. "I knew those were tears you were wiping away at the end of episode nine."

"You'd have to be heartless not to!" she defended herself.

"Call me the Tin Man then."

She paused. "Did you just make a pop culture reference?"

He rolled his eyes.

"I'm so proud of you." She held up her hand for a high five. He reluctantly gave it to her. "Granted it was from a movie that's like 75 years old and books that are even older, but you're making progress!"

"Just go."

"Okay, um…never have I ever gone skinny-dipping." It was one that she heard every time she played, but she had trouble thinking of another one.

Oliver drank. "To be fair 'skinny dipping' was how you bathed on the island."

Felicity nodded. "And before the island?"

He smirked. "Before the island, it was just fun."

She had to keep herself from picturing that. "It would be nice to see you have fun." She winced as Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Not the skinny-dipping kind of fun! Just…I just meant you work too much. And speaking as a woman who is taking a break from what has already been a twelve hour day, I would know." She leaned back in her chair, studying him. "I'm not sure I've ever really seen you have fun. Not since Tommy at least." She cringed once more. When she opened her eyes again, she was completely flustered. "Do you ever think to yourself: _why_ do I talk?"

"Felicity, I know what you meant." He put his hand on her arm so that she would look up at him. "And if it helps, I'm having fun now."

"Yea?"

"A moderate amount."

She nodded and swallowed hard, acutely aware that his hand was still on her arm. "Do you have one?"

"One what?"

"An 'I never'."

Oliver opened his mouth to speak and then hesitated just a moment too long.

She called him on it. "What was that?"

"I don't want to say the one that popped into my head."

She put her hand on top of the one that he had on her arm. "Come on, spit it out! After all the things I say to you, I think you owe me Oliver Unfiltered." She encouraged.

He swallowed hard. "Never have I ever had a crush on my boss." He wanted to kick himself for saying it the second it left his mouth, but at the same time he wanted a straight answer on the subject.

Felicity's face was unexpectedly stoic as she registered what he was asking her. She squeezed his hand and gently picked it up off of her arm, setting it back down on the table. She swiped the scotch glass and took a long sip, not letting the burn get a reaction out of her this time.

"In college," she clarified her answer. "I worked in the library directly under a grad student named Charlie—super smart, a little nerdy, but incredibly cute. He was a lot like Barry actually. I had a huge thing for him—exactly my type." It was the truth, but she knew it wasn't the answer that he had been trying to set straight.

Adding in the Barry comment was meant as a slap in the face and Oliver took it as one.

"Did you two ever date?"

"No, I don't think he ever really noticed me like that. I was just a freshman."

"He was an idiot," Oliver mumbled, but she caught what he said.

"You only have one finger left," she noted, needing to move past the previous conversation. "Never have I ever gallivanted around town clad in tight green leather pants."

That had them both laughing again.

"I'm not sure you can consider it gallivanting," he protested mildly, but he happily drank the last of the scotch from the glass and lowered his final finger. "You win!" he announced to her.

"As it should be!"

"For a game meant to get to know each other better, I still feel like there's a lot of mystery when it comes to Ms. Felicity Smoak," he assessed, eyes studying her from behind his glass.

She shrugged. "I guess, you'll have to work a little harder," she teased while in her head she was thinking that all he really had to do was ask her about herself.

"I can do that," he said. It almost sounded like a warning.

They held each other's gaze for a long time. Something seemed to pass between them, but neither one of them was ready to deal with whatever that might be.

Felicity as usual was the one to break the silence. "How much time do we have left?"

He checked the watch on his wrist. "Four hours and forty five minutes until landing."

"Ugh!" she groaned and let her head fall to the table. Oliver just laughed and wondered what game she would suggest next.


	4. The One Time She Didn't

**The Five Times Felicity Worked Late and the One Time She Didn't.**

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><p><em><span>Author's Note<span>: Hey guys, I know it's been awhile and I apologize for that. I've been moving and I just haven't had the spare time. But here is the latest chapter-you should know that I've jumped forward in time a little bit so this chapter has specific references to the end of season 2 and its finale. **SPOILER ALERT FOR END OF SEASON 2!** So if you haven't seen it yet, I wouldn't read this right now. I needed someway to bring Barry back into the mix and the best way to do so was to set this after the second season instead of within it. So enjoy and review if you can! Thanks!  
><em>

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Arrow._**

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><p><span>The One Time She Didn't<span>

"Good. You're here," Oliver exclaimed as he descended the steps into the Foundry. Diggle was close on his heels.

Felicity looked up from where she was stuffing her tablet into her messenger bag and shook her had. "No, I'm not."

Oliver quirked his head to the side, "Am I hallucinating then?

She stood up straight and adjusted her glasses. "What? No. I just meant that I'm on my way out." She looked around her feet like she dropped something. Her coat was missing from where she thought she had draped it on the back of her chair.

"No, you're not." Oliver told her as Diggle asked, "Where?"

Felicity narrowed her eyes and opted to answer Dig's question. "Central City."

"No, you're not," Oliver said again.

"Barry still needs some help sorting some things out with his apartment—people never think about what happens to someone's place when they're in a coma. Anyway I'm picking us up some food and heading over," she explained to Diggle.

"No, you're not," Oliver said one last time.

Both Felicity and Dig looked at him like he was crazy. "What's wrong with you? Are you broken?" she asked, wondering why he seemed to be on repeat.

"I need you here."

Felicity lowered herself into her chair. "Oh God, what happened?" With everything that they had been through between the undertaking and Isabel and Slade, her mind instantly went to a bad place. She couldn't believe Dig had let her prattle on about Barry's apartment.

Oliver hesitated long enough that Dig cut in. "Nothing happened," he said, shooting Oliver a dirty look for not squashing Felicity's worries right away.

"Okay so what is it that you need me for?"

"I need you to be here to do your job." Oliver answered simply as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, no further information necessary. He moved passed her to unlock the monitor that she was sitting in front of. She smacked his hand away from the computer.

"What do you think I've been doing all day?" she asked him. Her tone was light, but she felt defensive.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "And you're day's not done yet."

"Excuse me?"

Dig could tell that they were both starting to get worked up. "I think we should all just take a breath," he suggested, playing the mediator. Oliver had been tense for months, ever since they had locked Slade away, and Felicity had clearly had enough.

"No, I've already been down here doing work for you all day—and you want to know the kicker about that?" She looked back and forth between the two of them with a smile on her face like she was giving the punch line to a bad joke, but her sarcasm was shining through it. "It's that I'm constantly working, but I still don't technically have my job back." It was the first time she had brought it up since Isabel had first taken control of Queen Consolidated. She had never wanted to put more pressure on Oliver than he already had but her savings account was starting to hurt from the lack of income. Now she didn't care though—she was angry enough that she felt like rubbing a little salt in his wounds.

"That's what you need to be here for! You told me that you would go over the accounts with me and find someway to make this buyout happen faster. Now you're skipping out early!" Oliver argued. He was pissed that Felicity had the gall to throw the troubles with the company in his face. His lawyers were hounding him about it daily and he didn't need that from her as well.

"Are you counting my hours now?" She pushed up from her chair, trying to level the playing field. Oliver backed up a step. "Oliver, I spent an entire month here, night and day, putting this place back together for _you_. Do you know how difficult it is to rebuild a secret superhero lair with minimal funds and no outside help?" She didn't wait for a response. "No, you don't because you and Dig have been running about all over the city and have left me down here to work all by myself!"

"It's not like we sit around playing Halo all day."

Felicity was surprised he even knew what Halo was. It actually threw her off a little. She was sort of proud that he was learning, but she shook off the thought and tried to remember her anger. "It doesn't matter to me what you're doing! I'll be with you no matter what. But I don't appreciate you coming down here and treating me like some low level employee. We're supposed to be partners."

"That's not what he meant, Felicity." Dig said. He walked over to put a body between the two of them before it got too heated.

"I can speak for myself Dig!" Oliver growled.

Felicity took a deep breath. "Ya know what? It's 5 o'clock and I've been working my ass off all day so I'm not going to feel guilty about _not_ putting in overtime on a job that I don't have."

Felicity picked up her bag and started heading towards the stairs, glancing left and right for any sign of her coat as she went. Between all of the tables and computer monitors and workout equipment it was harder to narrow down than one would anticipate.

"This isn't just some day job." Oliver argued. He followed at her heels, trying to get her to reengage. "We're here to protect the city and we need to do that however we can, whatever it takes. The first step is getting my company back so we can continue this operation. If you can't see that anymore because you're too absorbed in Barry then you need to take a look at your priorities."

"Oliver that's enough!" Diggle finally took a stand.

"Dig, why don't you go take a walk?" It was more of a command than a suggestion.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Felicity ordered right back.

Dig shook his head. "No, it's fine. I'll go before I do something that I regret," he said with a glare at Oliver. "Can I walk you out?" he asked Felicity.

She gave him a small smile. "I'm not done here." Her gaze turned back to Oliver and the smile disappeared.

Dig left with a brush of his hand on her arm. Once he was gone, she folded her arms across her chest and leveled Oliver with a glare. "For the record, my priorities are perfectly straight. I'm not useful to you when you don't have a cause. You don't need me right now—you're just antsy." She took a step closer to him, wishing that she were more intimidating. It's harder when you're multiple inches shorter than the other person and have about 65% less muscle mass than he does. "And you've had a stick up your ass ever since Barry woke up. He's barely been out of the coma three weeks. He needs to know that people are there for him."

"You were there every night for a week and a half straight! He knows you're there for him. I need to know that you can be here for me!"

Felicity slammed her bag down into her desk chair. "If I haven't proved that time and again, I don't know what I'm doing here."

"What you're _supposed_ to be doing here is finding Thea," he shouted, slamming his hand down on the desk. It had been eating away at him ever since Roy showed him the note that she had left. It didn't help that every time he had to walk through the club to get to the lair, he got a one-two punch that Thea was gone instead of running the club that his family should still own. He needed to find her and he needed to get the club back so that he had something to keep her home.

"Finally! Forget the company! Let's get down to what this is really about!" Felicity shouted right back.

"I didn't say forget the company. But how are you supposed to find her if you're off with Barry all the time?"

"Oh, hardly! I have not been there all the time!"

"Why do you think Dig and I were gone all day? We had no idea you were here! I've haven't seen you around!"

"I've been here, Oliver!" she swore. "It's not my fault if you don't notice that I've spent the majority of my time cleaning this place up while simultaneously conducting every single electronic trace in existence to find Thea."

Felicity quickly went to her computer. Within seconds she had maps scrolling across all of the monitors with scanners flashing constantly to no avail. She gestured to the screen. "She's off the map. And me, staying here, staring at the screen is not going to change that any faster." She wanted to nail that point to the wall by actually walking out on him this time, but she still couldn't find her jacket. And unfortunately, it had been raining all day.

"You can always do more Felicity," he argued, walking across the room to stand in front of her and get her focus on him. "You've never failed me before. I've seen you do amazing things. There has to be something we haven't tried yet." His voice had gotten softer, clearly the shouting match hadn't gotten him anywhere and he was trying a different approach.

"Do you plan on sending me out on pointless search parties for her like you have been doing with Roy? Because that's about all that I have left," she shot back, annoyed that he could think that there was anything that she hadn't tried to get Thea back to him.

"Maybe I should! You should take Barry along with you – it's an activity that might actually make your date worthwhile."

"That's rude!" She couldn't believe he just said that to her. She shoved past him, completely fed up with his attitude. "And for your information, I'm not going there to date him. Barry just survived a lightning strike and subsequent coma. He's been dealing with a lot of new…issues lately. I'm just trying to help him!"

He took a deep breath, realizing that he had once again pissed her off about a hundred percent more than he meant to. "Which I understand, but my patience is thinning for times when it interferes with you helping me."

She didn't think she had ever heard him sound so selfish. It was reminiscent of the playboy that she had heard stories about before the island. "I told you, there's nothing else that I can do tonight."

"Fine. It's nice to know that you keep your promises. I'll remember that in the future."

"I promised to do all I can to find Thea and I have." She felt like her entire body was clenched. She was so annoyed with him. It had already been a long day and she had been excited to get away from it all for the night. But somehow she had found herself in this ridiculous fight and she couldn't believe that Oliver was being such a…well, such a bitch!

"And what about the company? You said you'd be here to go over everything with me—help me find something or someone to help me buy back Queen Consolidated."

"That's what your lawyers are for!"

"That's not good enough!" He was pulling at strings now, trying to find some way to gain back control of the conversation and make Felicity see that he was right. It wasn't working.

"Oliver, I'm sorry that you feel helpless right now. After being under the constant threat of attack or actually being under attack or having some sort of mission to accomplish, the city has been quiet and you're bored with nothing to do but focus on the fight for your company—one that you can't use a bow and arrow to win. But that doesn't mean that I'm some toy you can whip out when you need a distraction to satisfy yourself."

"That has nothing to do with this. You're backing out on your word."

"I gave Barry my word too."

"And it's more important that you honor that for him than for me?"

"He wouldn't try to make me choose." She finally gave up on finding the jacket and moved towards the door.

Oliver stopped and sighed. He knew he was being a jerk, but he hadn't been able to stop himself. It had been three weeks since Barry had first woken up and Oliver was glad that he was okay. He liked the kid—had even gone to visit him with Felicity in the first couple of days when he was still recovering in the hospital. Oliver had supported Felicity that first week. He had even encouraged her to spend time with Barry. But by week 2, he had started to feel Felicity's absence and it bothered him more than he liked to admit.

It didn't help that Starling City had banded together in the wake of Slade's rampage. The crime rate had fallen incredibly low while the survivors worked to rebuild the wreckage of the town under the newly appointed Mayor Tuckman. Oliver knew it was bound to pick back up again, but it didn't leave him much to do as the Arrow. He had a feeling Amanda Waller would be stirring up trouble soon, but for now it was the calm before the storm. Unfortunately, he had gotten accustomed to the storm.

Now it had officially been three weeks since Barry had been back in business and Felicity being gone made it all too easy to focus on everything that had slipped away from Oliver. She was right: he was looking for a distraction.

"Felicity stop!" he called to her.

She did, but she kept her back to him.

He came toward her until he was standing right behind her. "I'm sorry." That at least got her to face him. He decided it was time to be honest with her—keeping everything to himself wasn't working. "My mom is gone. Thea's missing. Sara left…Tommy. My dad. The company. For a long time I didn't have anyone to fight for and now that I do, everything that I care about seems to keep slipping away. I don't want that to happen with you too. I don't want to lose you."

"Oliver, you're not going to lose me," she told him sincerely. "But you need to remember that I don't belong to you either."

"I know that."

"Then please start acting like you know it."

He put a hand on her arm and squeezed it gently. She stared at where his hand touched her skin. "Let Barry know that I hope he's doing well," he offered as an olive branch.

She nodded.

"You owe Dig an apology," she reminded him.

"I know."

He averted his gaze from her as he let his hand drop from her arm and caught sight of something green on the floor. He smiled. He moved passed her to swoop up her jacket, which seemed to have fallen from the stair's railing. He held it open for her to slide into.

She opened her mouth, surprised. She had no idea how he knew what she was looking for—apparently he knew her well enough to read her mind. She slipped her arms inside the jacket and thanked him.

"I'll be back tomorrow and I'll be available all night long for whatever you need."

Oliver smirked, not even sure that she caught how that could be interpreted this time. "I appreciate it."

"But Oliver, you still have Laurel and Dig and Roy and Walter. _And_ me. Sara would be back for you in a minute if you really needed it. We'll find Thea. And we'll get the company back. Just be patient." She didn't know how it would all play out, but she knew in her gut that what she was saying was true. They made a great team—if anyone could make it happen, they could.

He smiled at her. "You should get going."

She squinted at him. "Hmmm…I really thought that would get a better response."

Oliver laughed and leaned down to kiss her cheek softly.

His lips felt soft against her skin. "See you tomorrow," she said and tried to keep the smile from showing on her face. She grabbed her bag and left quickly before she could guilt herself into staying for him.

Diggle came back within seconds of her exit. He had clearly been waiting right outside.

Oliver took a deep breath. "Dig. I—"

Dig held a hand up to stop the oncoming apology. "Don't bother. I know that Barry gets under your skin."

Oliver tried to deny it. "It's not that I don't like Barry…"

"It's that you don't like the way Felicity looks at him." Dig finished for him.

Oliver shook his head. "He's a good kid. And he makes her happy."

"Which bothers you to no end—it has since you met him."

"No, it doesn't. I want that for her."

"Uh huh." Dig clearly didn't believe that Felicity's crush didn't bug him.

Oliver walked away toward the glass display that held his bow and pulled it off the stand.

"I thought you were staying in tonight," Dig observed.

"No, I'm suiting up. I'll patrol the Glades or something. I'm too antsy to sit here all night."

"It's pouring outside."

Oliver shrugged. "So I get wet."

"I'll track you here in case you run into any trouble. Come back in a couple of hours and we'll go get food at Big Belly's."

Oliver nodded, but he wasn't really listening. He was gearing up, knowing that if he stayed still too much longer he'd spend the rest of the night wondering about Felicity and Barry. He needed a distraction and he didn't want to focus on why their relationship mattered to him so much. He could deal with that later.


	5. Eavesdropping

**The Five Times Felicity Worked Late and the One Time She Didn't.**

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><p><em><span>Author's Note<span>: One more to go!  
><em>

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Arrow._**

* * *

><p><span>Eavesdropping<span>

Oliver made his way across the empty club, curious about where the staff was. They should have been there already, preparing for the night. This was the one business his lawyers had managed to regain from Isabel's takeover and he'd be pissed if the staff let it go by the wayside in Thea's absence. He wanted it to be exactly how she left it, whenever he got her to come back.

He made his way over to the entrance of the Foundry, his feet stepping lightly enough that he barely made a sound. He quietly opened the door as not to draw attention to himself in case an employee happened to be hidden somewhere. He pulled the door softly shut behind him and paused at the sound of music drifting towards him. It sounded like some sort of jazz, but he couldn't be sure of anything beyond that. Music wasn't his forte.

Knowing that Diggle was accompanying Lila to her six-month check-up, Oliver descended the stairs, expecting to find Felicity hard at work as promised. He hadn't expected her to be back from Central City so early, but he got unreasonably happy that she was.

That happy feeling shriveled away when he heard a male voice break through the long trumpet chords, bouncing softly out of the speakers. Oliver crouched down on the stairs to see Barry sitting closely with Felicity at her desk, hunched over a pile of documents. Barry stared at her as she shifted her focus to the computer in front of her and quickly tapped on the keys.

Oliver sighed. He didn't want to analyze why he was constantly annoyed lately whenever he thought of Felicity and Barry, but he knew he couldn't go down there with attitude again. If he did, it would just make him an easy target for her anger. He sat for a moment and took a deep breath.

Just as he got control of himself enough to join them, Felicity slammed her hand down on her desk and shoved away from the computer in frustration. "It's not her," she informed Barry as she stood up to pace. "Damn it! I thought we found her." Her voice almost broke, a sadness seeping through the frustration.

Barry stood in front of her and placed a hand on either shoulder to stop her movements. He leaned forward to make sure she met his eyes—that they were the only things she could see.

"It's okay," he tried to comfort her first.

She shook her head violently.

Oliver wanted to leap down the stairs to comfort her for himself, but he found himself frozen in place.

"It's not." She took a deep breath. "Oliver has lost too many people—I won't let him lose Thea. Not for good."

"Which is exactly why we'll find her."

"How, Barry? We just wasted half the day tracking down an empty lead!"

Barry cut off any other complaining she was about to begin. "Not wasted! You know the Thomas Edison quote – he didn't fail to invent the light bulb 1,000 times before he was successful. He just found 1,000 ways _not_ to make a light bulb."

Felicity shook her head. Even from a distance, Oliver could see her mind working at a million miles per hour. "Edison didn't invent the light bulb," she argued.

Oliver almost laughed.

"That's not the point." Barry countered.

"If you're going to try to get through to me with science, at least check your facts."

"My _point_ is, that you just found one more place that you know Thea isn't. Cross it off the list and find a next theory." Barry urged her.

She sighed but nodded. This time his words actually helped her. "Okay."

Barry massaged his thumbs in small circles on her shoulders. "You alright?"

She swiped at a single tear that rolled down her face. "Yea, I just want to get Oliver his sister back."

He pulled her in for a quick hug that Oliver chose to read as friendly and comforting.

"If I know anyone who can make that happen, it's you." He told her.

They took longer to pull apart than Oliver liked, but the pair eventually separated.

Barry rubbed at the hair on the back of his head and smiled strangely, suddenly uncomfortable with their proximity. He cleared his throat. "So where is Oliver anyway? Are you surprised that he's not here yet?"

Felicity sat back down in her chair. Barry followed suit, sitting beside her. "I don't know. We didn't leave on the best of terms yesterday. I didn't exactly ask for his schedule before storming out."

"What do you mean? What happened?" he asked her.

Oliver sat back as Felicity did a quick recount of yesterday's fight. Hearing it from her point of view made Oliver feel even guiltier for how ridiculous he had acted. He realized now that he was jealous of Barry and lashed out at Felicity because he was feeling abandoned (and honestly a little sorry for himself).

When she finished, Oliver could see the bemused expressional curling at the corners of Barry's mouth. Felicity clearly noticed it too. "What the smile for?" she asked.

"It's just obvious that you don't see it."

She didn't even bother to ask what it is that she couldn't see. She just leveled him with an annoyed look.

Barry laughed a little and shrugged. "It's not like I was there to be sure, but it sounds to me like he was jealous.

Oliver wanted to slap a hand over Barry's mouth, but Felicity let out an unexpected guffaw that kept Oliver from doing anything.

"He's not jealous," she protested.

Oliver felt some momentary relief that Felicity didn't buy into Barry's fairly accurate assessment. At least until he heard why she disagreed.

"He's Oliver Queen—famous, brilliant, handsome, hero guy. Why would he be jealous over me?"

Oliver winced.

Barry reached for her cheek, tilting her head up so she would look at him. "Because you're amazing. You're the phenomenal, witty, genius girl. And you sneak up on people with how amazing you are."

Felicity held back her smile. She didn't really believe him, but she appreciated his words. She placed her hand on top of his on her cheek. "Thank you," she whispered, low enough that Oliver couldn't hear. She trailed her hand down so she could hold his wrist and she gave it a light squeeze. "There's no reason to be jealous of us though," she says, sounding unnaturally sad. "Is there?" She raised her eyes again to find Barry's face much closer to her than she remembered.

Oliver watched as Barry's face got closer and closer to Felicity's, his gaze presumably shifting from her eyes to her lips and back again. With every inch that closed between them, something stirred harder and harder inside Oliver. He didn't recognize the feeling as panic until he thought the moment over later that night. Panic was an emotion that he didn't register anymore. One he hadn't felt in years. And it shook him into action—he needed to stop them.

Oliver sprang to his feet, turning to swing the door open and closed again with enough noise to make it sound like he had just walked in. He bounded down the stairs and breathed easier when he found Felicity and Barry now sitting several feet apart. He was unnecessarily pleased with himself for killing their moment.

"Oh! Hey guys! What's up?" The narrowed gaze Felicity trapped him in made it clear he was off of his game. She knew he was acting weird.

"Hey, Mr. Queen—Oliver, I mean." Barry called to him, rising to his feet like he was standing for the president and smacking his leg into the table in the process.

Oliver smiled and moved to shake the young man's hand. "Good to see you, Barry."

Felicity smirked at the words, remembering how angry he was at the mere mention of Barry less than twelve hours ago.

"You look much better out of a hospital room," Oliver continued.

Barry smiled. "Yea. Thank you…again. For coming to see me in the hospital. It meant a lot," he said sincerely.

Oliver nodded. It was hard to hold a grudge against someone as genuine as Barry. "I'm glad you're okay."

Felicity let some of the tension ease out of her shoulders. She hadn't noticed how much she stiffened when she had first heard Oliver enter the room. Not until she felt her muscles relax when she realized that her jerk boss from yesterday had not returned.

Oliver changed gears. "What are you guys working on?"

"I asked Barry if he would help me look at everything we had on Thea's disappearance. He has more of a police perspective than I do that could come in handy."

"My, uh, my background is mainly in forensics, but we thought a second set of eyes might still come in handy."

Oliver's heart squeezed a little at the mention of his baby sister. "I appreciate all of he help we can get." He knew not to ask about progress yet. Felicity would have said right away if they had found anything. He didn't need her to feel like he was disappointed in her. "Thank you both." His words were directed at the two of them, but his eyes were trained on Felicity. He stared until she locked eyes with him and he sent her a grateful smile.

"Felicity, can I speak with you alone for a moment?" he asked her.

Felicity hesitated, unsure if he was pulling her aside to continue yesterday's fight outside of Barry's view or if he had something more innocuous on her mind. Barry didn't pick up on her hesitation though.

"Why don't I run out and grab us all some food?" he offered, wanting to give them some privacy.

"That'd be great," Oliver agreed.

Barry practically tripped over himself as he lifted his messenger bag over his shoulder. "Back in a flash!" he called over his shoulder before clamoring up the stairs.

Now that he had his moment alone, he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to say. Felicity stepped in before he had a chance to start.

"If you wanted to talk alone to yell at me for bringing Barry here, please save it for another time. I'm not in the mood to get into it."

Oliver walked over to her slowly and spun her chair so that she was facing him. She leaned back in the chair to watch him stand opposite her. "I don't want to yell at you," he promised. She waited for him to continue. "I just wanted to ask you…are we okay?"

She paused for a moment before nodding. "Yes."

"Good," he replied. "I'm sorry for how I acted. You mean a lot to me Felicity and I never meant to make you feel unappreciated." He reached for her hand and pulled her out of the chair so that they were on more equal ground. "You're very important to me."

"I know," she responded quickly. "We're partners. We're in this together and you need me to find Thea," she babbled, looking forlornly at her computer.

"It's more than that. You're one of the most important people in my life and I didn't mean to push you away—I don't want that."

She pinned him with that curious gaze like he was a problem that she could try to solve. "And what is it that you want?"

Oliver backed down a notch. He wasn't ready to be completely honest. "There are a lot of things that I want," he admitted, his voice hitting a dark edge. "Among them is that you are happy. If that means that you and Barry are together then so be it."

He had intended it to sound like he was giving her permission to have time off with Barry every now and then, but it sounded more like he was giving his blessing for them to date.

She quirked her head to the side as she studied him. She decided to throw him a bone. "Actually, Barry and I aren't together—not like that."

Oliver blanked. "But you'd like to be?" He managed to get out.

She shrugged. "At one point I thought we would, but there's a girl in Central City that I think he's interested in."

"Did he meet her while in a coma?"

Felicity laughed. "No, she works at S.T.A.R. Labs and they've gotten close since he woke up." She nervously adjusted her glasses out of habit. "Being here in Starling City, I'm sort of out of sight out of mind."

Oliver didn't mention the almost-kiss he had witnessed or the fact that the two clearly shared a cute, nerdy chemistry that made for an easy, mutual crush. Instead he said, "Then Barry's an idiot."

She furrowed her eyebrows at him. She couldn't blame Barry for having feelings for someone else. That would make her a total hypocrite. Barry had always been very understanding about whatever feelings there might be between her and Oliver. She liked Barry, but it wasn't a good time now and they both knew it. That didn't keep her from wanting to kiss him though. "He's not an idiot," she defended him.

"Felicity, he is. If he wastes any of his time thinking about another girl when he could be thinking of you, then he's an idiot." She rolled her eyes, thinking he would say anything to cheer her up at this moment. He squeezed her arm gently to get her focus back. "I'm serious. Felicity, you're staggering. And I mean that literally. You stagger me. Every time you occupy a room, it's impossible not to see how smart and funny and unexpected you are. You're the only person I know who constantly surprises me—who can throw me for a loop and make me second guess myself because it would be stupid to ignore you. I know you don't see it though. For how confident you are in what you do, you still find it hard to admit what a beautiful and truly good person you are." Felicity was already floored by his words with no idea how to respond, but Oliver wasn't done. He seemed to be stuck in the same babble mode that she constantly found herself trapped in, only he wasn't nervous or awkward about it. He was typical Oliver—very focused. And he had a lot to say. "You make me laugh—no one really makes me laugh anymore, but you do it easily. Somehow you just instinctively know how to give people exactly what they need even if they don't know they need it or want to admit it. So yea…when you're gone it's noticeable. There should be no out of sight, out of mind because when you leave, things aren't as steady. I think about you when you're not around and that's how it should be." Oliver swallowed hard, realizing he had said way more than he had meant to, but he might as well finish the thought. "Anyone who doesn't feel the staggering whirlwind that Felicity Smoak leaves in her wake _is_ an idiot. Trust me." He unconsciously reached for her cheek, softly touching her skin as if to check if she were real.

Felicity closed her eyes for a moment, loving the feeling of his hand on her skin. She couldn't believe everything he just said and she needed a minute to digest it.

"I sound like a tornado," was the only respond that she could get out.

Oliver smiled. "Well, you blow people away."

Felicity started fanning her face. "I'm hot."

"What?"

"You've got me all hot!"

Oliver laughed.

Felicity cringed and continued to fan her face, sure that it was flushed pink. "That came out weird. I just mean I'm flustered."

He caught her hand and lowered it to her side. "I see that," he said and leaned his face forward. Felicity's heart was beating so fast that she thought she might be having a panic attack as his lips came toward her. At the last second, he shifted his head just slightly to the right to land a soft kiss to her cheek.

The only thing she could register was the feeling of his lips on her skin. She couldn't even concentrate enough to figure out if she was more relieved or disappointed that he went for her cheek instead of her lips. He pulled away and studied her for a moment as if trying to decipher exactly what she was feeling. She knew he wouldn't be able to since she hadn't even figured it out yet.

"I'm going to go change and grab us some waters. Then you can show me what you and Barry are working on," he informed her.

She nodded at his retreating back and then sunk down into her chair, all the more confused by the enigmatic Oliver Queen.


	6. Fight With You

**The Five Times Felicity Worked Late and the One Time She Didn't.**

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><p><em><span>Author's Note<span>: Alright people, here it is! The final chapter for this series of one-shots. I wanted to get it out there before the Flash and Arrow season premieres. I hope you all enjoy it! I love Arrow and I love this ship so I'm sure there could be more one-shots in my future for this series! Review if you can and let me know what you think!  
><em>

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Arrow._**

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><p><span>Fight With You<span>

Oliver burst through the doors of the Foundry and practically leapt down the stairs. He was already in the motion of stripping off his suit jacket and tie so that he could gear up in record time when he felt another presence in the room.

"Felicity, I told you to go home," he said, turning to face his wide-eyed IT specialist.

She shook off her initial surprise at the unintentional Oliver Queen striptease that she had almost witnessed. "And if you hadn't hung up on me, you would have heard me say no."

"Excuse me?" He slammed his hand against the button that opened the glass case where his suit waited for him.

"Oliver, I'm coming with you."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're not."

Felicity pushed herself out of her chair and crossed the room to stand behind him. "I'm not letting you go alone."

"Felicity, I don't have time for this."

"Actually you do. Thea has been _willingly_ with Malcolm for months and she's fine. You can make time for this conversation," she argued.

Oliver looked forlornly between his suit and Felicity, clearly wanting some privacy to change. She flicked her wrist in the direction of the suit. "Don't let me stop you."

He raised his eyebrows at her as if expecting her to leave or maybe turn around at least.

She shook her head. "I'm not letting you out of my sight until we clear this up."

Oliver folded his arms across his chest and turned to face her fully. He was obviously not very happy with her.

Felicity purposefully mirrored his stance, arms and all, to make it clear to him that she felt the same way.

"Felicity, as I said on the phone, I am so grateful to you for all the work that you've put in to finding Thea. And I'm amazed that you actually found her, but your job is done—the day is over. Go home and I'll take it from here."

She scoffed at him. "You seem to be ignoring the small detail of my finding Thea with Malcolm Merlyn. A living, breathing Malcolm Merlyn."

Oliver tried to shrug it off, but she could see in his eyes that he was worried. "It was always a possibility that he was still alive."

"Was it?"

He sighed. "Well, yea Felicity. Dead men don't generally disappear from rooftops."

Felicity seemed momentarily stunned like she couldn't believe Oliver hadn't had her scouring the globe for the past year to track down Merlyn. She moved past that thought and back to her worries. "And he's not giving you any pause in your plan to…to what? Kidnap Thea?"

"I'm not kidnapping her," he growled out.

She raised an eyebrow at him, not pleased with the anger geared at her. "No? Because she left here voluntarily in part because she was mad at you. Have you thought about that yet as you sprint head first into battle?"

"I'll figure something out. Something to convince her to come with me—she needs to come home."

She nodded as if agreeing with him, but he could see by her narrowed expression that she was mocking him. "And while you're spending all this time trying to convince Thea to come home with you, what exactly is your plan to keep Malcolm from putting an arrow between your eyes?"

"I don't know if you've noticed over these past two years, but I'm pretty good on my feet. I won't let anything happen."

"I have noticed you…I've noticed that every time you go up against Malcolm, you've almost d—you've almost failed." She couldn't bring herself to say the word 'died'.

"Failing isn't an option," he told her adamantly.

"Then improve your odds. Bring backup!"

Oliver turned away from her and began pulling his suit from its case. "Malcolm is dangerous."

"Exactly," she said as she watched him walk out of view to change. She debated following him for a moment but stopped herself. There was no exit in that direction.

"I don't want to put anyone else in Malcolm's path," he yelled to her.

"You didn't have that problem with Slade," she called back to him.

Oliver stepped back into view, donning his suit, and just stared at her incredulously. "That was an entirely different situation."

"Yea, you were cool with giving me up to Slade when it would save Laurel, but I can't even back you up when you're the one who could be in trouble."

"That had nothing to do with Laurel! We were trying to save the city!"

Felicity rolled her eyes at him. She moved to turn away from him and pack up some equipment, determined not to be left behind. He stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"With Slade, I knew what he wanted—I knew his motives and what he would do so that I could stop him while keeping you as safe as possible. There was no way he would have killed you without me there to witness it." Oliver tried to justify the difference between the two situations. "Malcolm is unpredictable. He wouldn't hesitate to kill you and I won't ever let that happen. So I'm sorry, but you can't come."

"He won't hesitate to kill you either. So you need to be smarter than him, which is where I come in. You can't just bulldoze your way through him to get to Thea."

"I need to get her away from him now!"

"And the only way to do that successfully is to go in with a plan and back-up." She felt like she was on repeat mode.

He released her arm and backed away. "That's enough, Felicity," he commanded, trying to make it clear that he was done with the conversation.

"No." She refused to back down. "If I'm not good enough for you then let me call Dig."

"No!"

"Why not? He would kill you if he knew you were trying to do this without him."

Oliver hesitated, not knowing what to tell her. He decided the truth was actually the best way to get her off his back. "Dig is about to be a dad and I can't ask him to risk his family for mine. I _won't_ ask him."

"You know he would do it in an instant."

He nodded. "That's the problem."

"Then call Roy back from whatever place you sent him scouring the globe for Thea or track down Sara."

"It would take too long for either one of them to get there."

"Malcolm isn't going to hurt Thea. She's his daughter," she oh-so-helpfully reminded him.

Oliver was done listening. He grabbed his bow off it stand.

Felicity backed up a few steps. "Whoa! You don't like what I'm saying so you're going to shoot me?"

"No, I don't like what you're saying, so I'm leaving."

"I'm actually surprised you haven't done this before," she said to herself before snapping into action mode. She quick tapped in a few keys on her computer and heard the clang of the system lock them in. She knew he could easily reboot the system to unlock the doors, but he would have to come back to her computer to do so. She only hoped it would buy her enough time to get through to him.

He spun on his heel to face her, eyebrows raised and lips pursed. He was pissed. "Seriously?"

"I'm not letting you go alone," she said firmly.

"And this is the best that you can do to stop me?"

She shrugged. "It's step one."

"And what step two?" he asked as he stalked towards her.

She positioned her body in front of the computer, hoping the obstacle would slow him down.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe tracking you and following you to Merlyn's lair?"

Oliver stopped in front of her and folded his arms over his chest. "I can't have you getting in my way."

"Okay, _ouch_. I may not be Diggle or Sara, but I'm not useless."

"That's not what I meant."

"It's not like I haven't done missions with you before. I don't understand what makes this time different."

He massaged the space between his eyes. He couldn't tell her why it was different this time. He wasn't entirely sure himself, but Malcolm had a way of taking the most important people in his life away from him – his father, Tommy, and now Thea. He couldn't let him get Felicity. He couldn't risk her. "It just is."

"Not good enough."

He closed his eyes tight, not believing what he was about to say. "Fine."

She smiled. "Fine what?"

"Fine—you can help. You stay _here_ and track me as usual. Back me up at a distance."

She scoffed. "Yea because that will be so useful when you get into trouble fifty miles away from here."

"What do you _want_ from me?"

"Just let me come," she demanded. "It's my life and I get to decide what I do with it. I want to help you."

"I can't be worried about protecting both you and Thea at the same time."

"Then don't. Let me worry about _you_ for once."

"And what are you going to do to help?" he asked.

"I don't know—what I always do. I'll watch your back. Or I'll grab Thea for you while you distract Malcolm so you're not dealing with two things at once. I think I can handle your sister."

Oliver sighed. "I'm so tired of fighting with you."

"Yea, well it's not my first instinct when locked in a dark room with you either, but here we are."

"And you're serious about following me?"

She nodded. "Unless you have plans to tie me up or handcuff me, but I didn't think you were one for the kinky."

He had actually considered that option already, but he would prefer to save those activities for more fun circumstances. He didn't share that thought aloud.

"Why are you so adamant about this?" he asked.

"Because, Oliver, you're scaring me. You haven't been thinking straight since I told you about Merlyn and it's going to get you hurt." She rested against the lip of her desk with her back facing her computer. "Because you're not alone in this stuff. You never will be." She swallowed hard as he drifted closer to her. "Because I care about you and when you care about someone you fight for them and you fight with them…" She cleared her throat. "Which I guess has two meanings that actually both apply in this case, but I meant it like physically fighting side by side with each other, not arguing with one another," she babbled.

He had understood her meaning without explanation.

He stepped forward, which had her wary. She wasn't quite convinced that he wouldn't tie her down to keep her from following him. He leaned into her until he was well past the point of invading her personal space. She didn't exactly mind. For a moment she thought that he was actually going for it—that for whatever reason this was the moment he would choose to finally kiss her. She leaned backward until her back was almost hitting the monitor that she had been guarding. The scent of him stole all of the air around her—a clean, earthy smell that was just so perfectly Oliver. It made it hard for her to breathe. She locked eyes with him as he pressed his body flush to hers and her jaw unintentionally dropped a little as she thought to herself _'Is this actually happening?'_

But it wasn't. Without even breaking eye contact, he reached around her and quickly typed in the command to unseal the door. It only took a second for her to realize what he was actually doing and when his body heat left her own as he stepped back, the familiar disappointment sunk in.

She stood up straight and smoothed out her dress as though she could brush off any trace that he had touched her. She could still smell him on her though.

She waited for him to turn and walk away, readying herself to run after him. He didn't.

He clenched his jaw and studied her. He hoped he didn't regret this. "Get your stuff and let's go."

Felicity's eyes widened. "Really?"

He nodded. "Before I change my mind."

She smiled and pulled her lap top bag from under her desk, setting it on her chair to fill it up. He spoke as she pulled her gear together, telling her exactly what she had to do.

"We can talk about a forming solid game plan on the drive, but I need to know that you will listen to me. No matter what! I tell you to shoot, you shoot." Felicity nodded as he laid out his rules, but he didn't feel like she was really listening. "I tell you to jump?" he asked, trying to prompt a response.

"I ask how high," she responded absently.

He pulled her away from her bag so she could focus on him. "No, you just jump," he corrected her.

"Oh, Right."

He rested one hand on her arm and moved the other to cup the side of her neck to try to keep her focused. "And if I tell you to run, you run as far and as fast as possible no matter what's going on with me or Thea."

Felicity showed no agreement to that. She couldn't promise to leave anyone behind.

"I'm serious, Felicity. If anything happens to you I won't be able to deal with that."

She didn't want to admit it, but now that he was including her she was actually nervous (and maybe even a little scared). But that wasn't going to stop her.

"Nothing's going to happen to me. Or you. Or Thea. Okay?"

He nodded once. "It'd better not."

The warmth of his huge hand on her neck and the low drawl of his voice made her shiver. She knew he could feel her pulse ratchet up and she wasn't sure if she was embarrassed that he could feel the effect he had on her or glad that he finally knew it. Within the last minute or so she had become a bundle of nerves and fears and adrenaline. It was a combination that made it hard to think so she decided not to anymore. It was time to just act.

She pressed up on her tiptoes and tugged on the collar of his shirt to bring his face level with her. She took it as a good sign that he didn't try to disengage from her. That gave her enough confidence to go through with it and she touched her lips lightly to his. His lips were soft and sent a shockwave through her entire body. She felt his sharp intake of breath through his nose and hoped that meant he had felt it too. She leaned into him more, causing a delicious pressure against his mouth and she felt his fingers push up into her hair. She captured his upper lip between her own before shifting down to his bottom lip, making sure he was thoroughly kissed before she pulled back.

Once they were broken apart, she noticed that his other hand—the one not still buried in her hair—was splayed across the small of her back, dangerously close to her butt.

She cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses out of habit. "That was just in case things don't go as planned. I wanted to know what that was like."

He didn't say anything, but she noticed he still hadn't let her go.

As was her natural inclination, Felicity felt the need to fill the silence with babble. "Sorry if I made things weird now. It's just that pretty much anytime either my life or your life is seriously threatened, which is more often than I like to think about, I kick myself for not having done that. Now I'm sure I have a lot of other regrets in my life, but I wanted to fix this one now. Of course if we do live this might be added to the regret list if it makes things weird betw—."

Oliver cut her off by pulling her back into him for round two. This time she was the one surprised and he was much more responsive—getting over any initial hesitation he had about taking this step. This time she felt everywhere he touched her, beyond just his mouth which was saying something when his tongue sought out her own and took up the majority of her concentration. The hand that had been on the small of her back hugged her tight to his body, practically lifting her off her feet while his other hand massaged her hair and pulled her mouth aggressively against his.

Her hands felt along his chest and her entire body felt the buzz as he let out an involuntary moan into her mouth. The blood pulsing through her body thrummed along with the tingles that danced to the tips of her nerve endings. Her body felt more awake than she'd ever been, which was interesting since her brain was locked in a mode that could only process Oliver. It was all a little too much and if Oliver felt even a fraction of what she was feeling then they were both in deep.

They separated at the same time, pulling away just enough so their lips no longer met. She felt him breathing hard against her cheek—harder than she had ever heard him breathe even during the most difficult work out—and she knew she had gotten his heart racing.

She swallowed, trying to get some feeling back into her mouth. "You know this doesn't change my mind about going with you, right?"

He chuckled a little bit and gave her another quick kiss almost like he couldn't get enough of her. "We're getting Thea and then we are coming back to finish this," he told her firmly. There was such a fierce determination in his voice that it gave her no doubt that it would happen. They would survive Malcolm Merlyn, get Thea back, and return to this moment. When Oliver set his sights on something he wanted, he always found his target. She got a little thrill in knowing that he finally had his sights on her.

He stepped back and grabbed her hand, guiding her to follow his lead. She was happy to. She managed to snag her bag as they made their way out of the Foundry. She wondered how long it would be before they returned with Thea in tow and could pick up from where they left off. She tried to push it out of her mind and think about the work ahead. After all, she didn't mind working late with Oliver Queen if it meant she got to take some time off with him after.


End file.
